The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-06-11
THE OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF
PUBLIC EDUCATION.

There is expended annually in the
State of Louisiana fer purposes Of pub
lie education nearly half million dol
lars. The latest statistics at hand,
show the total revenue of the educa-
tionai fund for 1885, to have been
$57l 1880, of which there WAS dig
bursed in that year $3.50. O3O.ss.
This large annual expenditure for
public education, the necessity for its
expenditure, the benefits which it can
be made to confer, the powers and du-
ties of him who, uuder the law, is
charged with its administration, invests
the office of State Superintendent Of
Public Education, with a degree Of i'm
portance which the citizens of our State
have neither recognized nor sppre-
cla,ed. Tho more thoughtful and pro-
gressive OF them being in the main
donicilled at the centres OF population,
where private enterprise and munich
pal authority provide ample education
al facilities, have not concerned them
selves. that by fur the larger number Of
their less favorably situated fellow
citizens are the victims of u policy in
the administration Of the public schools
of the Slate, which is crying injustice
to its intended beneficiaries, a reproach
to their parents, and II sad commentary
either upon the capacity or the homes.
ty and patriotism of the agency which
assumes to administer this trust. That
this fund, though large, is inadequate,
is freely admitted and that it is mainly
being frittered away on incompetent
teachers, whose schools are subjected
to almost no supervision, is known all
over the State. Admit that Parish
Superintendents, for whose selection
the State Superintendent is not respon-
sible, having in many instances been
appointed for political reasons and
shown themselves to be VIGOROUSLY
imcompetent-have grossly neglected
their duties; the evil could BIO largely
averted, did the State Superintendent.
as the law provides he shall do, visit
annually each parish, confer with the
local superintendents and members of
the school board bring himself into a
clear relationship with them and thus
familiarize himself with the practical
workings of his system, ascertain its
defects, aud industriously and intelli.
gently labor to apply remedy. That
our whole system of public education
should be overhauled, may be true, but
the Telegraph is not now concerned
with this probiem; what it does assert
is that under the present system with
our present limited resources, honest
intelligent and Industrious effort, on
the part of the State Superintendent
can be made to achieve results far
more satisfactory than we have yet
known. Let the system of pnDlic edu-
cation be what it may, upon its ex-
ponent, of necessity. will rest the sue
cess or failure of our public schools.
The necessities of the office require that
the Superintendent shall be not ouly
an educated man, but that he should
be a practical, industrious and pro-
gressive educator. He should be
thoroughly familiar with all moral
school methods aud be capable of con
ductiDg In person teachers institutes.
1t is desirable that he should come
from the people and be- thoroughly
conversant with the practical operas
tions Of the public schools of the coun>
try. The Importance of this office, its
functions, and the gu affiliations neces-
sary for their successful discharge,
should lift it above the plane of parts
san politics. In behalf of the children
of the State, whose only hope to escape
the bondage of ignorance, Is through a
judicious expenditure of the public
school fund, and an intelligent super
vision of the public schools, the
Telegraph appeals to the press of the
State, that should an iudiv idnat be
discovered who possesses tho qualifica-
lions successfully to manage our public
school interests, that the test of his
fitness shall be, not does he favor
Moncure for Governor, or is he for or
against the administrat bat re-
gardless of party affiliations within
the Democratic party, let the quest ion
to- l.,